Headline: HOLLYWOOD MAY RETELL A LOVE STORY THAT'S LESS UNUSUAL TODAY
Reporter: By Greg Freeman \Email:

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: 11/5/2002
Section: METRO, Page: B1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

Hollywood is considering a remake of the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
    
The original starred Spencer Tracy as the father who is upset that his daughter has chosen to marry a black man, played by Sidney Poitier. Katharine Hepburn stars as Tracy's wife. According to news reports, the remake would put a black family at the center of the drama, perhaps with sitcom star Bernie Mac in the Spencer Tracy role.
    
The original version caused quite a stir when it first hit screens in 1967. Interracial marriage was taboo. It did happen occasionally, but it was the kind of thing that families kept quiet, like the crazy aunt in the cellar.

Today, however, interracial dating and marriage are much more common, making me wonder how much impact such a film would have on today's audiences -- even with a black family front and center.
    
It might be hard for some to imagine that 40 years ago, miscegenation laws were on the books in most states -- laws that made it illegal for blacks and whites to marry. It was in 1967 -- the same year that "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was released -- that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that barring interracial marriages was unconstitutional.
    
Today, churches have become accepting of interracial marriage, and it's hardly shocking these days to see a television program or movie where blacks and whites are dating one another.
    
Blacks and whites aren't the only races to date one another. Asians, Hispanics and American Indians have also been more willing to become part of interracial relationships.

But before you start to think that you're the odd person out because you're not in an interracial relationship, think again: Interracial marriages represent only 2.5 percent of the total, according to the U.S. census. But the numbers have more than doubled since 1980, to 1.4 million from 651,000.
    
And there's been a dramatic jump in the number of marriages between black women and white men. Figures from the 2000 census indicate that while the number of black female-white male marriages remained relatively static between 1960 and 1980, the number tripled by 2000. In 1960, there were 26,000 such marriages in the United States; by 2000, there were 80,000.

For me, the issue of interracial marriage hits home. Regular readers know that my wife is white, and our son is biracial.
    
In the 23 years of our marriage, we've seen a marked change in the way the public looks at us. When we first married, we found that we were the object of everyone's interest. Though it made no difference to us because we were comfortable with one another, we would often find that wherever we went, people would stare at us. Ultimately, we learned the trick of staring back -- something that usually got the offending person to turn away, embarrassed. In recent years, we've noticed that we no longer get the stares.
    
Of course, our experiences are in cities like St. Louis and larger places. I'm sure there are small towns today where our marriage still would not be accepted. Overall, though, there seems to be a growing acceptance.
     
Perhaps the acceptance has something to do with the children of interracial relationships growing up and making names for themselves. Halle Berry, Tiger Woods, Mariah Carey and Vin Diesel are among the names in headlines today who are multiracial.

Of course, interracial liaisons are hardly new in this country. One can go back to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the slave with whom he is believed to have had at least one child.
    
But while such relationships were only whispered about at one time, they're out in the open today. And contrary to those who suggest that such couples are marrying to make a statement, or because of some sort of self-hatred, most interracial couples marry for the same reason most people of any color marry: because they love each other.
    
And love is a concept that even Spencer Tracy's character ultimately understood.

COPYRIGHT © 2002, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

back